The Definitive Guide to Comedy
**** 1/2 (out of 5) The Fringe boasts several late-night showcases around Edinburgh where comedy fans can find stand-up, burlesque or some combination of the two. None of these variety hours curates chaos quite like Stamptown can. With Zach Zucker presiding as master of ceremonies in character as horrible throwback …
**** (out of 5) Hungry. Horny. Scared. But enough about the walrus that showed up in Paddy Young’s hometown to epically greet his fellow Northerners for New Year’s. This show is about Young’s big debut. He has big dreams, but before detailing them, he needs us to know how condescending …
**** (out of 5) Liam Withnail’s Fringe show last year revolved around the embarrassing moment when he ran the London marathon only to shit his pants. While talking to his funny friends in Edinburgh, Withnail got the sense that they’d all come to Fringe prepared to deliver more emotionally powerful …
**** (out of 5) In 2016 Zoë Coombs Marr won the top prize for best show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and received a nomination at the Edinburgh Fringe as well, for her “Trigger Warning” show that featured Dave, her male alter-ego edgelord hack comedian. Marr had retired the …
**** (out of 5) Captivating, curious, adventurous. Marjolein Robertson may come off as a bit of a hot mess. And not just because she’s from Shetland. But that doesn’t mean Robertson deserves the relationships she has endured. She cleverly entertains us with tales about her real-life misadventures told in reverse …
**** 1/2 (out of 5) “I’ve always been a late bloomer,” Cara Connors says in her Edinburgh Fringe debut. That’s the only logical reason why I hadn’t seen or heard Connors before now. Part Sandra Bernhard, part Kristen Wiig, part intangible undeniable charm, this LA-based comedian by way of Toronto …
Courtney Pauroso is an LA-based actor, writer and comedian, who traveled the world and the United States as the child of a military family. She co-wrote and appeared in Two Pink Doors, a series of 5-minute shorts for FX, directed by Dr Brown, and has appeared onscreen in projects such …
**** 1/2 (out of 5) We’ve all heard of Irish Goodbyes, but Irishman Ed Byrne hadn’t. He’s not sure it’s even apt. “Have you ever seen my dad leave the pub?” But that’s not what this show is about, exactly. Although it’s very much about how Ed was forced to …
*** 1/2 (out of 5) Matt Goldich is dry, droll and self-aware. It’s evident even in the title for his Fringe debut, which he also tells us marks his first performances outside the United States. So Goldich can mock himself further for his naivete, not knowing about poster marketing photos …
**** (out of 5) I first saw Emmanuel Sonubi at a Fringe 2022 preview showcase put on by Underbelly, where he told jokes about trying to keep up with current slang. Didn’t think much about it at the time, as I spent a week in Edinburgh last year and only …
